EARTHTRENDS DATA TABLES TECHNICAL NOTES: Institutions and Governance For more information, please consult http://earthtrends.wri.org DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGY The Level of Democracy is a scale measuring the degree to which a nation is either autocratic or democratic. A score of plus 10 indicates a strongly democratic state; a score of minus 10 a strongly autocratic state. A democratic government possesses fully competitive political participation, institutionalized constraints on executive power, and guarantee of civil liberties to all citizens. An autocratic system sharply restricts or suppresses competitive political participation, and its chief executives are chosen by an elite group and exercise power with few institutionalized constraints. The Level of Political Competition measures the extent to which alternate preferences for policy and leadership can be pursued in the political arena. On a scale of 0-5, one of the following categories is assigned to a country: (0) “Not Applicable” is used for a political system without stable groups. (1) “Repressed” is assigned to totalitarian party systems, authoritarian military dictatorships, and despotic monarchies—any regime where oppositional activity is not permitted outside of the ruling party. Repressed regimes also have the power and ability to carry out systematic repression. (2) “Suppressed” political systems contain some limited political competition outside of government; however, peaceful political competition and large classes of people are excluded from the political process. (3) “Factional” polities contain parochial or ethnic-based political factions that compete for influence in order to promote agendas that favor the interests of group members over common interests. (4) “Transitional” arrangements accommodate competing interests, but some factionalism associated with parochial interests may still be present. (5) “Competitive” systems are characterized by relatively stable and enduring political groups with regular competition and voluntary transfer of power. Small parties or political groups may, however, be restricted. The Level of Democracy and Political Competition indices are reported by the Polity IV Project of the Center for International Development & Conflict Management The Polity IV indices are compiled by a panel of experts using multiple historical sources for each country, combined with reference to a variety of standard sources. The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) measures the degree to which corruption – the abuse of public office for private gain – is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. Ratings range in value from 10 (least corrupt) to 0 (most corrupt). CPI is a composite index compiled by Transparency International from the results of 17 surveys reported by 13 different independent institutions. Regulatory Barriers to Starting a Business measure the average amount of time and money necessary to register and incorporate a new business venture in the largest city of a given country. These two indicators are measured in days and as a percent of the per capita gross national income (GNI). Governments differ significantly in the requirements they set for these processes. Broadly speaking, higher values represent regulatory environments that stifle the creation of new enterprises. Data are obtained from the World Bank’s Doing Business Database. World Bank staff collect this information in an extensive investigative process involving surveys and the input of local experts. Surveys are sent to lawyers working as business retainers in the country of interest. Respondents are asked to list the steps required to begin a business and to estimate both the cost and amount of time required to perform each. Respondents' answers are compared and normalized in order to present a clear picture of the regulations surrounding the start of a business as well as shortcuts and common methods used for compliance. Survey results are corroborated by other in-country experts in business law and practice. Government Expenditures as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP) roughly indicate the economic importance of public health, public education, and military activities on national economies. Public Health Expenditure consists of recurrent and capital spending from government (both central and local) budgets, external borrowings and grants (including donations from international agencies and nongovernmental organizations), and social (or compulsory) health insurance funds. The estimates of health expenditure come mostly from the World Health Organization's (WHO) World Health Report 2003 and its subsequent updates, and from the OECD for its member countries, supplemented by World Bank poverty assessments and country-sector studies. Data are also drawn from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Public Education Expenditure consists of public spending on public education plus subsidies to private education at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels. Foreign aid for education is excluded. Education expenditure estimates are provided to the World Bank by the Institute for Statistics of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO compiles its data from annual financial reports of central or federal governments and state or regional administrations. Military Expenditure is defined by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) as "all current and capital expenditure on: (a) the armed forces, including peacekeeping forces; (b) defense ministries and other government agencies engaged in defense projects; (c) paramilitary forces, when judged to be trained an equipped for military operations; and (d) military space activities." Expenditures include the cost of procurements, personnel, research and development, construction, operations, maintenance, and military aid to other countries. Civil defense, veteran's benefits, demobilization, and destruction of weapons are not included as military expenditures. SIPRI obtains military expenditure data from several sources. Primary sources include national budget documents, defense white papers, public finance statistics, and responses to surveys. Surveys are administered by either SIPRI, the United Nations, or the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Secondary sources include data published by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Europa Yearbook, and country reports of the Economist Intelligence Unit. The Digital Access Index reflects the ability of each country's population to take advantage of internet communication technologies. It is a composite score of eight variables describing availability of infrastructure, affordability of access, educational level, quality of information and communication technology (ICT) services, and Internet usage. The index is calculated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). ITU receives data on information technology from governments and industry associations. Data on education and literacy rates are provided by UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics. Freedom of Information (FOI) Legislation requires disclosure of government records to the public. There are now 48 countries with comprehensive FOI laws, plus a dozen or so countries with FOI-related constitutional provisions that can be used to access information. Data are collected by Privacy International on a country-by-country basis and were last updated in February 2005. ".." in a data column signifies countries with no FOI legislation or no available data. The Press Freedom Index is defined by Freedom House as "the degree to which each country permits the free flow of information," measured on a scale of 1 to 100. Countries with a score between 1 and 30 are considered to have a "free" media; 31 to 60, "partly free"; and 61 to 100, "not free." Freedom House emphasizes that this survey does not measure press responsibility; rather, it measures the degree of freedom in the flow of information. Data are collected from overseas correspondents, staff travel, international visitors, the findings of human rights organizations, specialists in geographic and geopolitical areas, the reports of governments, and a variety of domestic and international news media. The final index measures three separate categories of influence on the media: national laws and administrative decisions; censorship and intimidation; and quotas, licensing biases, or government funding. FREQUENCY OF UPDATE BY DATA PROVIDERS All variables are updated annually except for the Digital Access Index, which was most recently released by ITU in November, 2003. DATA RELIABILITY AND CAUTIONARY NOTES Many of the data in this table are index calculations and therefore contain an unavoidable amount of subjectivity. Indices typically measure ideas and behaviors instead rather than discrete physical quantities. While these data can illustrate rough comparisons and trends over time, rigid score comparisons and rankings are discouraged. Level of Democracy and Political Competition. The Polity IV data are subject to substantial cross-checking and inter-coder reliability checks. The least reliable calculations are typically the most recent, due to "the fluidity of real-time political dynamics and the effects this immediacy may have on the assignment of Polity codes in a semi-annual research cycle.” Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). CPI is based solely on the perceptions of local residents, expatriates, business people, academics, and risk analysts. Hard empirical data such as cross-country comparisons of prosecutions or media reporting are not used because they may measure the extent of anti-corruption efforts instead of the extent of actual corruption. Regulatory Barriers to Starting a Business. The data have been subject to a rigorous series of quality-control measures in order to ensure accuracy and comparability across countries. However, problems do remain. Data only measure the time and expense of starting an enterprise in the largest city of each country. Only businesses who employ more than 50 people or have more than five local owners are included. Smaller enterprises that are not measured here may have the most difficulty navigating bureaucratic and legal requirements. These data also assume the ability of the business to hire a lawyer well-versed in the regulations regarding the starting of a business, a service not available to many smaller entrepreneurs. Public Health Expenditure. The values reported here represent the product of an extensive effort by WHO, OECD, and the World Bank to produce a comprehensive data set on national health accounts. Nonetheless, there are some difficulties with the data. Few developing countries have health accounts that are methodologically consistent with national accounting procedures. Data on public spending at the sub-national level is not aggregated in all countries, making total public expenditure on health care difficult to measure. WHO cautions that these data should only be used for an "order of magnitude" estimate, and that specific cross-country comparisons should be avoided. Public Education Expenditure. Recent data are preliminary. In some cases data refer only to a ministry of education's expenditures, excluding other ministries and local authorities that spend a part of their budget on educational activities. Spending on religious schools, which constitutes a large portion of educational spending in some developing countries, may be included. The World Bank cautions that these data do not measure the effectiveness or levels of attainment in a particular educational system. Military Expenditure. The entire data set has been carefully compiled with extensive analysis by a single provider, SIPRI, which makes these data fairly reliable. When a time series is not available, or a country's definition of military expenditure differs from SIPRI’s, estimates are made based on analysis of official government budget statistics. Estimates are always based on empirical evidence, not assumptions or extrapolations. SIPRI cautions that military expenditure does not relate directly to military capability or security. Status of Freedom of Information Legislation. While the FOI data have been thoroughly researched, there are unavoidable difficulties in assigning each country to one of three categories. Some countries have laws guaranteeing access, but the laws are not enforced. Others guarantee access to government documents in specific categories, excluding access in other categories. A more thorough description of each country's policies is available at http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/foia/foia-survey.html. Press Freedom Index. Freedom House has been reviewing press freedom since 1979; the Press Freedom Survey emerged in its current form in 1994. The data are reproducible and the index components are clear. The data are considered to be reliable; nonetheless, there is an unavoidable amount of subjectivity in any index calculation. SOURCES: Level of Democracy and Political Competition: Polity IV Project. 2003. Polity IV Project: Political Regime Characteristics and Transitions. College Park: University of Maryland. Available at http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidcm/inscr/polity/index.htm. Corruption Perceptions Index: Transparency International. 2003. 2003 Corruption Perceptions Index, Table 1. Berlin: Transparency International. Available at http://www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/2003/2003.10.07.cpi.en.html. Regulatory Barriers: The World Bank, Rapid Response Research Group. 2004. Doing Business Database. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank. Available at http://rru.worldbank.org/DoingBusiness/ExploreTopics/StartingBusiness/CompareAll.aspx. Government Expenditures: The World Bank Development Data Group. World Development Indicators Online. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Available at http://publications.worldbank.org/ecommerce/catalog/product?item_id=631625. Digital Access Index: International Telecommunications Union (ITU). 2003. World Telecommunication Development Report. Available at http://www.itu.int/newsarchive/press_releases/2003/30.html. Freedom of Information Legislation: Banisar, David. 2005. Freedom of Information and Access to Government Records Around the World. Washington, DC: Privacy International. Press Freedom Index: Freedom House. 2004. The Annual Survey of Press Freedom 2004. New York: Freedom House. Available at http://www.freedomhouse.org/research/pfsratings.xls.